Lu Jingchen had already said that, so Song Qiao was too embarrassed to keep insisting on following him in such a willful manner and had to stay obediently at home.

But after Lu Jingchen left, Song Qiao simply couldn’t sleep. Forcing herself to calm down, she took a shower and then sat on the big bed in the bedroom, looking outside.

Until she felt a bit sleepy, Lu Jingchen still hadn’t called back. Song Qiao bit her lip and finally lifted the quilt to lie down. Just as she turned off the light, her phone on the bedside table dinged with the sound of an incoming message.

Song Qiao thought it was a message from Lu Jingchen, so she quickly sat up to check her phone. Indeed, there was a new message, but it wasn’t from Lu Jingchen; instead, it was a multimedia message.

Puzzled, Song Qiao hesitated, but without thinking too much, she opened the message and glanced at the photo. When she saw the tiny photo in the multimedia message, she froze on the spot in the next second.

Song Qiao’s pupils suddenly widened, her fingers trembled slightly as she tried to open the photo. As the image loaded and enlarged, revealing Xu Qian bound and lying on a board bed, she felt her blood begin to freeze, making her breathing rapidly intensify.

The message contained only one photo, no words, but just from this one photo, Song Qiao was certain — Xu Qian was indeed in trouble, she had been kidnapped.

She immediately exited the image view, and just as she was about to call back, the other party called her first.

Staring at the unfamiliar and completely strange phone number displayed, she didn’t recognize it, but it was clear the caller knew who she was.

Swiping to answer and placing it to her ear, before the other side could speak, Song Qiao had already started questioning, "Who are you? What do you want? Let her go... we will try to meet your conditions."

The photo was taken so close, you could see Xu Qian’s bloodless face. Her eyes were closed in the picture, and her forehead seemed injured; it was unclear what had happened to her.

Though Song Qiao knew Xu Qian was in good shape, she feared they would harm Xu Qian.

Xu Qian was the best to her in the Lu Family, besides Lu An’an. She never denied that Song Qiao married Lu Jingchen, even happily accepted her as her daughter-in-law.

Song Qiao quite liked Xu Qian as her mother-in-law.

Knowing Xu Qian got into a car accident while trying to visit Huanhuan had already made her feel tremendously guilty.

After about half a minute of silence, the voice of a man came through, "Mrs. Lu, to rescue the old Mrs. Lu, it’s best not to call the police, or our people might accidentally deal with the old Mrs. Lu."

There was no hint of humor in the opposing party’s tone, speaking seriously and with an obvious air of earnestness.

Song Qiao knew that these people were most averse to police involvement, so she quickly agreed, "As long as you don’t harm my mother-in-law, I won’t call the police. Tell me, why did you kidnap my mother-in-law, what do you want?"

The other party replied, "If you want to save the old Mrs. Lu, come alone, driving yourself to the abandoned factory in the West Suburb by midnight tonight. Remember, come by yourself, don’t act smart and tell anyone else, not even Lu Jingchen."

After finishing this, they hung up without waiting for Song Qiao to respond.

"Hello... hello... hello..."

The phone emitted a beeping sound, and Song Qiao felt a lump in her throat. Clenching her lips with her teeth, she stayed unresponsive for quite a while, staring dazedly at the phone in her hand. Then, noticing the time on her phone showing half-past ten, it was like she suddenly woke up from a trance. She immediately threw off the quilt, got up, and rushed to the wardrobe to grab clothes and change before heading out.

It was so late, everyone in the villa had already gone to bed. As Song Qiao came downstairs, only one lamp was lit in the living room, the rest was still and silent.

With car keys in hand, she went straight to the underground garage, and soon a black sedan drove out.

After a car accident in Paris, she harbored a certain fear of driving herself, nearly never touching cars. But with Xu Qian in such a situation and the demands put forth, she had no choice but to drive herself.

Driving through the night, Song Qiao’s gaze was fixed ahead. The demand was to not tell Lu Jingchen, but fear kept urging her to tell him, to definitely tell Lu Jingchen...

Ultimately, the chaotic thoughts in her mind defeated reason. Song Qiao parked the car on the roadside, took out her mobile phone, searched through the contacts, and quickly dialed a number. Only then did she realize she hadn’t called Lu Jingchen but had mistakenly called Chu Munan.

Chu Munan on the other end of the line answered swiftly, his deep, pleasing voice coming through, "Qiaoqiao?"

It was too late to hang up, so Song Qiao replied apologetically, "Sorry, Chu Munan, I dialed the wrong number."

Chu Munan was always perceptive, and Song Qiao’s mere words prompted him to ask directly, "Qiaoqiao, what’s the matter? Did something happen?"

Out of worry and fear, there was a slight tremor in Song Qiao’s voice, though not immediately obvious, yet Chu Munan caught it right away.

Hearing Chu Munan’s words, Song Qiao suddenly felt like she found someone to confide in, no longer able to hold back, her voice tinged with sobs, "Chu Munan, Xu Qian has been kidnapped, the other side called me, demanding I go alone, but I’m scared..."

She wasn’t truly timid; she was quite resolute when she set out, yet now she felt utterly helpless, uncertain about what would happen next.

"Where are you now?" the deep voice from the other end inquired, "Don’t go yet, tell me where you are, I’ll come find you, then we’ll decide what to do, okay?"

Looking around her, Song Qiao immediately gave him her location.

Half an hour later, a low-profile black sedan parked beside Song Qiao’s car, and Chu Munan stepped out with a serious expression, striding swiftly toward her in the night.